Little Tru felt as if he had divine assistance, with his skills improving remarkably fast. This was a sensation he had never experienced before, with new inspirations arriving every day. He was constantly refining his techniques, progressing so quickly that he felt he was almost on par with his father.
"Could it be... that my old man is just not that skilled, holding me back?"
With rapid technical advancement, he inevitably developed some inflated notions of his abilities. Fortunately, as progress began to slow down, Derek intentionally managed it, preventing him from becoming completely arrogant.
A month was still too short; even his family didn’t expect him to achieve anything substantial in just one month. However, Derek believed it was time to go out and see the world. With the data panel available, his month of progress equaled what others might achieve in six months. Staying cooped up here was simply dull.
Moreover, without establishing a source of income, how could he grow quickly? Relying solely on Little Tru? A yearly profit of one or two gold coins was still too little.
Recently, he had managed to gather about twenty cast iron spearheads, but that was hardly enough for trade. Having been cautious earlier, he now planned to convert his gold coins into power. He set aside some for expenses: each new soldier earned eighty copper coins a month, which was below the normal rate. Little Tru was currently earning one silver coin, considering he was a follower.
With a monthly payroll of less than nine silver coins, plus rations and various costs, one gold coin would suffice. Keeping ten gold coins for emergencies meant he could utilize at least forty gold coins, a significant sum.
"Should I recruit another twenty men?"
Andrew thought his nephew had lost his mind. How long could his limited funds sustain the living and salaries of dozens of people?
"Derek, you need to train a batch of warriors first, then find ways to make money. Trust me, recruiting soldiers is easy, but you have to feed them. Otherwise, loyalty won't last."
Andrew shared his experiences. The Ferreira family was indeed powerful, with over a hundred regular guards and seven or eight knights, plus the ability to summon militia quickly, easily assembling a force of five hundred at a moment's notice. But this required extensive assets to maintain—thousands of vassals and numerous estates and industries; without them, one could go bankrupt overnight.
Derek was well aware of this but remained steadfast in his views. To avoid interference from Uncle Andrew, he even concocted a benign lie: "Uncle, I've received a long-term escort contract and will be setting out soon. I need manpower; these soldiers will train here first before I take them along next time."
"You’re not being fooled, are you?" Andrew was skeptical; such good fortune seemed unlikely.
Stolen novel; please report.
"On my honor, Derek guarantees it; absolutely not. This is through connections with Count Perez."
Derek hinted at some information mysteriously, prompting Andrew to conjure up a grand scenario. "You do have the skills to make reliable friends out there." Although Andrew felt somewhat downcast, he no longer doubted his nephew, who didn’t seem like he had lost his mind.
To be frank, noble rule had its pros and cons. In Count Perez’s territory, without the cooperation of a sheriff, recruiting soldiers was truly unrealistic. Frankly speaking, Little Tru wouldn’t volunteer just because Andrew said so. He rapidly swept through the village, gathering the best young men; if he wanted to continue recruiting, he would have to lower his standards a bit next time.
Once training was organized, he assigned two apprentices to Little Tru, clearly instructing him to nurture new talent. In this era, skilled labor was a family secret. Little Tru certainly wouldn’t be happy about it, but with a knife at his throat, he had no choice.
Derek understood that initially, Little Tru wouldn’t be fully committed, but that was okay; time would teach him what he needed to do. The data panel would only provide him an edge over others; for everything else, he would learn and practice along the way, always having more opportunities to make mistakes than others.
After a few days of incorporating everyone into the panel statistics, Derek finally set out with a squad of new soldiers, while the rest accumulated experience in an orderly fashion.
This time, the target was Watchtower City. It was the largest city nearby and the second-largest city in the northern province, managed by officials dispatched by the kingdom and even garrisoned by a royal army.
Of course, Derek didn’t set out empty-handed; he took along a wagon loaded with a thousand pounds of wheat bran. In this area, wheat bran was worth at most two copper coins per pound, with even lower purchasing prices. But brought to Watchtower City, it could yield a profit of half a copper coin per pound.
A full wagon would net five hundred copper coins; although the profit was small, it was easy money. As for why he didn’t bring more grain, well, grain was the Ferreira family's business. At least in their territory, no one could compete with them. The thousand pounds he had was gathered piecemeal.
If not for being the son of Baron Ferreira, he would have found himself face down in a stinking ditch by now. Derek's primary goal wasn’t just to make money but to accumulate experience. He first hired a carter and bought a wagon, marking it as fixed assets.
This makeshift caravan was now hitting the road in an awkward fashion.
Soon, news reached Baron Ferreira's desk. The latter glanced at it briefly, then moved on without further thought.
...
Along the way, Derek hoped to encounter some bandits to test his skills. Unfortunately, the escort standards were a bit over the top; no one was crazy enough to risk their lives over a few silver coins worth of grain against a dozen warriors.
The journey was slow and took ten days before they finally arrived. Watchtower City was the first proper city Derek had seen since arriving in this world. It was a pathetic admission, but it was the truth. Even Count Perez's castle seemed smaller compared to this city.
The guards at the gate, seeing the caravan, also recognized the triangular flags indicating noble status. They collected fifty copper coins as an entrance fee, and Derek entered the city.
Then... who the hell is defecating everywhere?
He stepped into an unknown pile of dung and felt utterly disgusted. The rural sanitation had already made him uncomfortable, and he had always enforced strict standards on his own territory. But this first step inside shattered all his illusions.
"This world is completely different."
Adjusting his mindset, Derek sold the grain at a low price to a Ferreira family shop and found a place to settle down. His purposes for coming here were twofold: to gain experience and to scout for reliable sources of iron ore.